


Get the Show On the Road

by sksdwrld



Series: Asterisk [21]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hospitalization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 21:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1484254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time and Eddie wasn't prepared for this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get the Show On the Road

Eddie was standing in front of her refrigerator, swinging orange juice from the carton when she felt something twinge inside of her. She clapped a hand to her belly but kept chugging. Then, the crotch of her cropped yoga pants dampened and moments later, wetness blossomed between her thighs and ran down her legs.

"Oh, what the fuck?" She growled, looking down at herself. 

"It's time, baby girl..." Sean, the older camera man grinned from behind the lenses. 

"What?" Eddie snapped, peering at him. She gestured pointedly with the OJ carton. "No...no. I'm not due for three more weeks!" 

Sean shrugged and the lense telescoped toward her as he zoomed in on God-knows-what. "Babies come when they come...and that one is on its way. Trust me, I got five of my own." 

The juice slipped out of her hand, splattering across the floor as it landed. "Shit." Eddie stared down at it uselessly, her hands fluttering by her throat. "Shit. Fuck. What do I do?" 

"I ain't supposed to tell you to calm down, but you might want to try that for starters." Paul balanced the camera on his shoulder and reached into his pocket to flash his phone at her.

Eddie patted herself down, scrabbled through the pile of mail and magazines on her kitchen table, and giving up, ambled into the bedroom to change. When she finished, she went back to the living room where she began to dig through the couch cushions, all the while cursing and bemoaning the baby's timing. The truth was, she hadn't been doing anything anyway, but she wasn't ready for this shit...to take care of another human being...to be a mother. 

Eddie finally found her phone on the bathroom sink, and snatched it up, only to stare blankly at the screen. What was Carey's number? _Oh, right_. Speed-dial #3. 

"Yeah, what?" Carey's voice was gruff and low when he answered and Eddie wondered if he was high or if he'd only been sleeping. 

"Carey?" She replied, hating the way her voice sounded so small in that moment. "Oh shit, I need a ride, baby." 

"Girl, walk your ass down to the bus stop. I'm busy." 

"I'm having the baby, you asshole. I need a ride to the hospital." 

"Aw shit, son. Are you for real?" 

"Ain't no joke." She twisted a lock of her bangs around and around her index finger and glanced anxiously out the window as if by some miracle, he was already there. "And hurry the fuck up, I'm not having this baby on my living room floor like a goddamn...I don't even know what." 

"A'ight, a'ight. I'm coming, calm your tits." She heard him sigh and start to rustle around. "Wait for me on the curb so I don't have to come in." 

"You fucking kidding me?" Eddie said, exasperated.

His response was to deeply inhale and after a moment, croak, "You want a ride or not?" Carey exhaled audibly and she could practically see him crouched on the sofa with the blue glass bowl he called 'Lulu' in hand.

"We gotta bring the camera guy," Eddie warned him, mostly so that he wouldn't show up, still smoking.

"Jesus, Ed, you're killing me." 

"Last favor you ever gotta do for me, Dollface." At least she prayed it was, anyway. If she had any luck left, she'd be able to swing something with MTV to keep the money flowing, and if it flowed enough, she'd make enough to leave this shithole and all her so-called friends behind. 

When Eddie got off the phone, she went back to her bedroom to get her overnight bag; a large over the shoulder affair with pink flowers on it. Sean followed her down to the sidewalk and as she waited, lit a cigarette. 

"You know they're gonna rake you over the coals for that," Sean murmured. 

Eddie turned to face the camera and blew a stream of smoke at it. "You go nine months without the medication that keeps your goddamn head on straight and see if you can quit smoking while you're at it. Meatball's fine. Five pounds, that's all he needs to be. I don't wanna push a bowling ball out of my twat anyway. Fuck it. Everyone in the fifties smoked. Doctors fucking told women to smoke back then - it was supposed to help with morning sickness. 'Course, it didn't do a damn thing for mine, but that's besides the point." 

The first contraction took Eddie by surprise when it came, shortly thereafter. First, she gasped, dropping her cigarette butt to grab her stomach, which was clenched and hard like a rock. Aside from leaving her a little breathless though, it hadn't been so bad. 

"Shit," she laughed shakily and fumbled for another cigarette but stopped when a black sedan screeched up to the curb. "Here he is." 

Eddie let herself into the back seat while Sean climbed into the front. She was busy getting situated when she heard Sean snarl, "Hands off the equipment, Shit-Stick." 

Eddie glanced up to find Casey's palm spread over the lens and a surprisingly intent look on his face. "I didn't agree to be filmed. You keep the attention on Eddie and we won't have a problem. You point that thing at me again and I'm bouncing." 

The three of them made it to the hospital in decent time, although the way that Casey faded in and out of attentiveness, it was clear he was high. Eddie didn't fuss too much about it-he was doing her a favor after all. When he pulled up to the curb of the birthplace, she hauled herself up and leaned over the seat to kiss the side of his head. "Thanks babe." 

In no time at all, Eddie was processed, wheeled down a long corridor and set up in a private room. She changed into a gown and then a nurse came in, cramming her fingers into Eddie to check her progression. In the midst of it all, another contraction came on but unlike the others, this one hurt like hell. 

"Oh, come on, that didn't hurt so bad," the nurse said in response to Eddie's shriek as she withdrew her fingers and wiped them on a towel. 

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Eddie gasped, glaring as she held her stomach. "It was like someone was stabbing me with a knife!" 

"Well, you're only four centimetres, so you've got a ways to go," the nurse replied smoothly and ignoring Eddie's scowl. "I'll check back on you in awhile. The remote is there, and here's the call button if you need us." 

The nurse bustled out the door and Eddie was alone. Well, Sean was there of course, but he wasn't any help. It wasn't like he could hold her hand of talk to her, really. Eddie wished that Carey had come in instead of going home. She wished that she could think of someone she could call who would care. Matt might care...Eddie picked up her phone to text him but then decided against it. He had a show in a couple of hours and he didn't need to be distracted. She texted Elliot instead but she should have known it was futile. 

Fifteen minutes after she'd sent the message, her phone buzzed. 

_Good Luck_... 

And rolling her eyes, she shoved the phone away from herself. 

"I want drugs," Eddie blurted to the next nurse who came in to check on her, an hour later. 

"We like to hold off on the epidural until you're eight centimetres, otherwise it can stall your labor, but let's take a looksie, hmm?" she replied, pulling on a glove. After another uncomfortable cervical check, she frowned. "You're only five now, and about seventy-five percent defaced but you haven't progressed much since the last time. You'll probably have awhile to go yet. Try to get some rest, if you can." 

The advice was laughable at best. With contractions coming every five minutes or so, there was nothing Eddie could do but lie there and writhe in pain. She was so loud that someone came to check on her again. 

"Don't you have someone to sit with you, sweetie? Your...partner? Your mother? Maybe a friend?" The hand on her shoulder seemed patronizing and Eddie narrowed her eyes, preparing to snarl at the woman when another wave of pain started in her back and then clenched forward, consuming her.

Anger gave way to fear and lonliness and months worth of pent-up emotion finally broke free. Eddie's resultant sob was a hideous, anguished sound that she tried -and failed- to choke back. "Ma-ah-att! I want Matt!"

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [See You at the Bottom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2143860) by [jazminealthia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazminealthia/pseuds/jazminealthia), [sksdwrld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld)




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